Another 15 Minutes...Health News from Fade
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An eight-year-old boy who weighs 89kg (14st) may be taken into care because of fears for his health. Connor McCreaddie, who is four times the weight of an average child of his age, has difficulty dressing and washing himself and misses school regularly because of poor health. His mother has been summoned by letter to a child protection conference tomorrow to decide on his future. She and Connor's grandmother complain that they have not received sufficient support from the local health authority on North Tyneside in dealing with his weight problem.
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Obese boy could be taken away from his family - The Independent 26th February 2007
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Obese boy could be taken away from his family - The Independent 26th February 2007
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Go on diet or be taken into care, 14-stone boy is told - The Times 26th February 2007
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Focus: The thin line between poor diet and child abuse - The Sunday Times 25th February 2007
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Fat boy may be put in care - The Sunday Times 25th February 2007
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Boy of eight who weighs 14st may be taken from his family - Daily Mail 25th February 2007
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Boy of eight who weighs 14st may be taken from his family - Daily Mail 25th February 2007
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Royal Mail is in a hole and the government is trying to dig it out. Now questions are being raised as to whether this effort is legal, and before long they could find echoes in a very different context - the NHS. For the health service is on the cusp of being subjected to European competition law and, should that happen, hospital bail-outs might cease to be legal. The liberalised health service would then resemble Pandora's box - something which, once opened up, could not again be closed.
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The number of people suffering from dementia will increase by 154% in the next 45 years, according to a report by some of the top researchers of the illness in Britain, with the number affected rising from 700,000 today to 1.735m in 2051. The economy could be crippled by soaring rates of the condition, as the population ages and better cures are found for other illnesses, say the health economists from the Institute of Psychiatry in London and the London School of Economics, who presented the findings to officials from the Treasury and Department of Health.
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Million more Britons face dementia - The Observer 25th February 2007
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Dementia timebomb will cost the NHS millions - Daily Mail 25th February 2007
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Dementia timebomb will cost the NHS millions - Daily Mail 25th February 2007
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Tom Dodds tells of his anorexia - The Guardian 26th February 2007
Anorexia is seen as a 'women's problem'. But eating disorders in men are widespread and on the increase. Tom Dodds, 19, tells how his quest for a 'manly' body became an obsession that almost killed him
With the NHS at last balancing its books, the challenge facing Gordon Brown, as chancellor and as prime minister-in-waiting, is how to increase efficiency to fund new drugs and meet the needs of an ageing population. The greatest potential for efficiency improvement is to be found in core medical processes, rather than eliminating waste and bureaucracy by cutting management costs, as Adair Turner's 2001-2002 study found. Recent NHS research confirms this analysis, and shows that as much as £2.2bn could be saved.
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Health guru urges change of tack on funding to save NHS - The Guardian 26th February 2007
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Widows whose husbands died after receiving contaminated NHS blood are urging the government to close a loophole which denies them access to financial assistance. Around 200 women in the UK, many of whom are pensioners and living in severe hardship, are excluded from the fund because their partners, who all suffered from haemophilia, died from hepatitis C complications before an official cut-off date to be considered for compensation. Had they died later or from an HIV-related illness, they would have been entitled to support.
Allegations that patients at a Liverpool hospital had parts of their brains removed for medical research during neurosurgery without consenting to the procedure, can be revealed today. The University of Liverpool is accused of covering up the procedures, alleged to have resulted in at least 12 patients having brain parts removed. Its medical school, which was embroiled in the Alder Hey organ retention scandal, is facing claims that it tried to silence a senior hospital whistleblower who raised the alarm about alleged misconduct by a leading brain surgeon.
I put my long life down, in part, to a healthy diet. I always cut fat off meat, even with good Spanish ham, and if possible I don't eat fattening things. The other key to good health, of course, is staying physically and mentally active. I will never retire. Why retire when you can still make wonderful films with true greats like Johnny Depp? I've just recorded my first album, Revelations; as far as I'm aware, at 84 I'm the oldest person to make their recording debut.
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Opinions from the medical fringe should come with a health warning - The Guardian 24th February 2007
It's hard to know how you'd react in a crisis, and so if there's one group of people who can't be blamed for the weirdness around autism, it's parents. But academic journal editors have different responsibilities. The current issue of Lancet Neurology has a review of a book on autism: the book is for a lay audience, and it flatters the views of the growing fringe autism movement on speculative biological causes and treatments for the condition. The review is by a man with a long and worrying history of working on that fringe - and it's certainly very flattering. Now I'm not advocating censorship for one moment, but I do think that in a situation as extreme as this, it's only fair to give the reader some background.
A complete ban on alcohol advertising and sports sponsorship is necessary to curb Britain's growing drink problems, the Royal College of Physicians said yesterday in response to fresh evidence of "a rising tide" of alcohol-related deaths. Ian Gilmore, the college's president, said the government should act immediately to introduce an advertising watershed to stop children being exposed to the propaganda of the drinks industry. It should then work towards a total ban on all alcohol advertising and sports sponsorship including logos on team shirts.
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Ban alcohol ads in sports, doctor says - The Times 24th February 2007
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Dr Tom Smith: A matter of taste - The Guardian 24th February 2007
Why do doctors no longer take any notice of the colour of the tongue? I remember as a child they would always look at it to check that I was healthy. Now my doctor says that it's not important. My tongue is always covered with a soft white fur. It isn't painful, but what can it be? Should I try to scrape it off? Tongue examination was thought to be important in Victorian times when doctors knew very little about the true causes of disease. They thought the tongue's appearance reflected what was going on inside the body. Now we may look at the tongue for any local signs of infection of the tongue, but not to check general health. There are better ways of doing that. The white fur on your tongue, however, may be a fungal or bacterial infection. Your doctor may well be able to give you something for it.
Brain surgery is cloaked in mystery, but Neil Kitchen says it can be a 'simple procedure'. Melissa Viney went into the operating theatre to find out
I am pleased that Dina Rabinovitch is happy with Guardian readers' response to her appeal for donations to support drug trials at Mount Vernon hospital (Letters, February 22). That means I don't feel so bad about writing this letter. Surely pharmaceutical companies should use their profits to fund the infrastructure for drug trials? Our charitable donations might be better directed at innovative research funded by some of the national cancer charities. And yes, like Dina, readers might also be motivated to donate to local NHS hospitals where they themselves are being treated. As for Dina's concerns about transport to hospital (G2, February 19), let's encourage other public-transport companies to follow the joint Virgin Trains and Macmillan initiative in the south-west, providing free tickets to attend treatment at oncology hospitals (see www.macmillan.org.uk/virgintrains).
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English tests to be part of a tougher new strategy on immigration - The Guardian 24th February 2007
Ministers are planning to extend compulsory English language tests to an extra 150,000 migrants who want to settle in the UK each year, under plans to be unveiled by the Home Office next week. The initiative is part of a tough new government strategy that will also see new attempts to block illegal immigrants from having access to public services such as housing, benefits, and medical help, as well as to private services, such as banking.
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Colin Firth makes plea for nurse 'facing murder' in Congo - The Independent 26th February 2007
The actor Colin Firth has joined forces with five bishops to denounce the Government for deporting about 40 Congo nationals on a chartered flight to Kinshasa today. Firth told The Independent that he was particularly concerned about the fate of a nurse on the flight from Gatwick, which would also carry 19 children. " Nobody likes an actor with a cause," he said, "least of all me. But there is good reason to believe this guy is at risk. He is certain that if he returns he will be murdered."
More than 5,000 children are being forced to work as sex slaves in the UK, including thousands trafficked to this country by criminal gangs, The Independent on Sunday can reveal. An important study of global slavery exposes Britain as a major transit point for the movement of child slaves around the world. Commissioned by social research charity the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, the report paints a shocking picture of an international web of gangmasters exploiting children as young as five, as well as vulnerable women. Many are threatened with violence, then sold into the sex trade or forced to become domestic servants, says the report, to be published tomorrow.
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Sex traffic: Danielle was 15 when she was sold into slavery - The Independent on Sunday 25th February 2007
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It is a chocoholic's dream. Not only can they indulge in their favourite treat, but they can also say, honestly, that it is doing them good. "Mental Balance Chocolate Gaba" is not just any chocolate, however. It is one of a number of products being pushed in the food industry's latest marketing hype: mood foods. Britain's obsession with life-enhancing, health-promoting foods generates more than £1bn annually, with the market for anti-carcinogenic, macrobiotic, lifestyle foods reaching near saturation point - Mintel, a market research company, estimates sales to have been worth £1.1bn up to 2006, having grown 143 per cent since the start of the decade.
Women aged 45 and over should be discouraged from having babies, according to a leading expert on women's health. Dr Anna Glasier, clinical director for sexual health at NHS Lothian in Scotland, says that middle-aged women considering "late child-bearing" should think again because it is "likely to be difficult and, for some, distinctly unenjoyable".
Heroin is to be prescribed on the NHS to hard-core drug addicts under secret plans being prepared by the Government. The move to use injectable heroin follows the success of trials in London, Brighton and the North-east on drug users who fail to respond to treatment and who commit crimes to finance their habit.
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Heroin on the NHS and a document too hot to handle - The Independent on Sunday 25th February 2007
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Britain faces a worsening crisis in sperm donation as rules come into force restricting the buying of sperm from abroad, specialists have warned. As of yesterday, overseas sperm donors are required to comply with the same regulations governing donors in the UK, including losing their right to anonymity.
Swingeing cuts in elderly care and library and sports services will be made this year as councils struggle to keep tax levels down. A Times survey of more than 200 authorities shows that the average proposed council tax increase is about 3.75 per cent so far but this is likely to go up to nearer 3.9 per cent as elements for the police and parishes are added.
A drug that could improve learning and memory in children with Down’s syndrome may begin clinical trials soon. The new therapy, developed in the United States, has led to great improvements in the learning abilities of mice with the symptoms of the condition.
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Swingeing cuts in elderly care and library and sports services will be made this year as councils struggle to keep tax levels down. A Times survey of more than 200 authorities shows that the average proposed council tax increase is about 3.75 per cent so far but this is likely to go up to nearer 3.9 per cent as elements for the police and parishes are added.
A drug that could improve learning and memory in children with Down’s syndrome may begin clinical trials soon. The new therapy, developed in the United States, has led to great improvements in the learning abilities of mice with the symptoms of the condition.
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BRITAIN’S new equality chief has warned that mothers face more discrimination in work than any other group, including the disabled and the poorest ethnic minorities. Trevor Phillips, in his first big policy announcement, is expected to propose sweeping “family friendly” laws and practices.
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Doctors plan designer babies for four women with cancer gene - The Sunday Times 25th February 2007
BRITISH doctors are planning to create “designer babies” free from inherited breast cancer. Four women with strong family histories of breast cancer are seeking to create embryos without some of the mutations known to cause the disease. Doctors treating the women will apply to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) next month for a licence for the new test.
How would you feel if a relative was about to go into hospital? A friend told me recently that when she heard her mother had to have an operation her first thought was: “Oh no, she’ll get MRSA.” Certainly the headlines in the papers last week seemed to justify her fears. Deadly hospital superbugs killed a record 5,400 people during 2004-05, according to figures released on Thursday by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
TWO new “wonder drugs” with the potential to prolong the lives of thousands of kidney cancer sufferers are being denied to National Health Service patients because they are too expensive. The drugs, Sutent and Nexavar, have been shown to shrink tumours dramatically, with some disappearing altogether. Both have been licensed for use in Britain but the NHS has so far declined to issue guidance that trusts should fund the drugs.
ONE of Britain’s medical colleges is set to change its guidelines on a condition that threatens the lives of newborn babies, after it was highlighted last week by The Sunday Times. Pregnant women at risk of vasa praevia will now be screened during routine ultrasound scans at 20 weeks. Previously doctors have avoided conducting the test because of the cost involved in caring for expectant mothers found with the condition.
Think that being able to eat all you like without gaining weight sounds a dream? Think again, says Natalie Savona. Those skinny cows face the same health hazards as the rest of us
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As we talked vices with the head of the Food Standards Agency, it was hard not to be distracted by two large plates on the desk in front of her. One was heaped with raw carrot, corn and celery, the other equally ostentatiously with grapes and pineapple cubes. Dame Deirdre Hutton did not ruin their alignment by eating from one of them. “It’s the only job I’ve had where not putting on weight is a key performance indicator,” she said — and she was not entirely joking.
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Two thirds of the ambulance trusts in England are missing targets to attend life-threatening emergencies quickly because of a shortage of funding, The Times has learnt. Millions of pounds needed to fund extra vehicles and crews are instead being withheld as local health authorities struggle to balance their books before the end of the financial year, ambulance leaders say.
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Violence against NHS staff is costing the taxpayer more than £100 million a year, a documentary will reveal tonight. An estimated 75,000 health workers were victims of assaults by patients last year, the equivalent of one attack every seven minutes, according to BBC 1's Panorama.
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Hospitals told not to operate until patients have waited 20 weeks - The Telegraph 26th February 2007
A NHS surgeon today exposed how cash-strapped hospitals were being barred from operating on cancer patients who had not waited long enough. Wayne Jaffe laid the blame for the appalling state of affairs at the feet of Tony Blair, with his vision of reduced waiting times and 24-hour surgery. In a withering assessment of the financial management of the health service, Mr Jaffe said that doctors were being restricted in getting waiting lists down by financial limitations and ever-changing targets.
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Half of hospitals delay surgery to save cash - The Sunday Telegraph 25th February 2007
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Alcohol-related deaths are soaring among young girls. Here, one former binge-drinker gives Michael Shelden a brutally honest insight into the highs and lows of excess Drinking oneself to death used to be a relatively slow process for most alcoholics, but the cheap, sugary concoctions of the alcopop craze have helped to lure more and more young people into a deadly habit of binge-drinking.
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Appraisals are a waste of time, says Max Pemberton Doctors like to think that they are special. In reality, of course, they are just like people in any other profession: some are good at their job, others are not. Some are nice, some are horrid.
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Hospital surgery is paid for on an ill-thought-out tariff basis that could cripple the health service, says Victoria Lambert A short letter published in the Telegraph this week highlighted the contradiction inherent in the Government's attempts to improve the cost-effectiveness of the NHS.
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GlaxoSmithkline will start an advanced trial of its experimental breast cancer drug to test its efficacy against tumours in the head and neck. GSK has filed Tykerb for approval with America's Food and Drug Administration and European regulators as a breast cancer drug. A decision by the FDA is expected on March 13 and in Europe in September.
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Labour's reforms and reorganisations of the NHS have cost £3 billion to implement and brought it back to where it was in 1997. Understanding how the NHS works, or is supposed to work, has never been easy. Over the past decade, it's become harder still, a result of New Labour's slew of initiatives and reorganisations.
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A pregnant girl of 14 revealed yesterday that she had been asked by teachers to give advice to four of her school friends who have fallen pregnant this term. Kizzy Neal, of Torbay, Devon, who is due to give birth in May, spoke out as new figures showed that the seaside resort is one of the worst areas in the country for teenage pregnancy.
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Britain could become the first country to sanction the genetic alteration of human embryos, a step that a pressure group claims could pave the way to designer babies. A decade after the cloning of Dolly the sheep, the Government is opening the door to GM human embryos for research, according to Human Genetics Alert.
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My son, returning from a business trip to India, was amazed how little coverage was given here to the expulsion of 16,000 Indian doctors working in the NHS. In India this remarkable decision, based on the recent upholding of a High Court judgment of last November, has made front-page news for the past two weeks. It is widely interpreted as blatant and racist discrimination against Commonwealth citizens. Not so widely understood was why Mr Justice Stanley Burton had little choice, last year, in ordering the Indians' expulsion. He was merely enforcing the Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2006, implementing EU directive 2004/38. This made illegal a system set up by the 1971 Immigration Act, under which thousands of Commonwealth doctors every year could complete their post-graduate training in British hospitals, without a work permit, before returning to their own countries.
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The same healthcare professionals often work in the NHS and the private sector; it's just that you get to see them so much quicker with insurance, says Dee Herbert, from Greenwich, south London. Mrs Herbert – who is married to Christian Herbert and has a seven-month-old son, Dylan – first took out private health cover with Norwich Union in 2003. It was part of a work package when she was a logistics manager for the retailer Arcadia Group.
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The astonishing pictures of premature baby Amillia Taylor have started a double debate in Britain: what should be the upper age limit for abortions? And should more be done to keep alive the 800 babies born under the age of 25 weeks in this country every year? As a young obstetrician in the Sixties, Prof Stuart Campbell dealt daily with the horrific aftermath of botched back-street abortions. ''It was heart-breaking to see so many women seriously ill or dying from septicaemia," he says, shaking his head. Then, with abortion illegal, he was all too aware that women who could not or would not keep their babies were turning to the shadowy "Vera Drakes" who, usually for money, would carry out crude terminations in squalid and unhygienic conditions.
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Labour was warned by its own scientists that abolishing weekly rubbish collections risks spreading disease, it emerged yesterday. Ministers were told a year ago that cutting back collections to once a fortnight would raise the threat of infestation by rats, insects and other vermin.
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RNIB ditches white stick logo because 'we're not just for the blind' - Daily Mail 24th February 2007
The Royal National Institute for the Blind is dropping its distinctive logo because it says it suggests the charity is only for blind people. At the same time, its familiar slogan - 'helping you live with sight loss' - will switch to 'supporting blind and partially sighted people'.
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RNIB drops white stick from logo - BBC Health News 26th February 2007
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RNIB drops white stick from logo - BBC Health News 26th February 2007
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Budgets for family doctors and other essential NHS treatments have been cut by £12million in order to buy methadone for heroin addicts in prison. The controversial new programme represents a move away from trying to get prisoners off drugs - the major cause of reoffending - to simply allowing them to continue their addiction at the taxpayers' expense.
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A Leicester MP wants the government to scrap prescription charges for university students. Leicester South MP Sir Peter Soulsby said some students were skimping on vital medication because of the cost.
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Women with diabetes are not receiving enough support from the NHS before pregnancy, as services are "poor and uncoordinated", a report says. The Confidential Enquiry into Maternal and Child Health found many were not given advice about controlling their condition when trying to get pregnant.
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One in six calls to a 24-hour helpline last year concerning mental health came from girls contemplating suicide. Some rang ChildLine while attempting to kill themselves, while others had tried to take their own life, and were thinking of doing so again.
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Perfectionists are more prone to developing irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) after an infection, a study has suggested. University of Southampton researchers asked 620 people with gastroenteritis about stress and their illness.
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A Leicester MP wants the government to scrap prescription charges for university students. Leicester South MP Sir Peter Soulsby said some students were skimping on vital medication because of the cost.
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People who suffer from job burn-out may be prone to developing type 2 diabetes, research suggests. An Israeli study of 677 mostly male, middle-aged workers found those affected by burn-out were nearly twice as likely to develop the condition.
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'Autism link' to Asbo youngsters - BBC Health News 23rd February 2007
More than a third of children given Asbos have underlying brain disorders such as autism, according to a survey. The study was carried out for the BBC with the Somerset charity for brain-injured children, Bibic.
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International News
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A new test can identify lung cancer by detecting unique chemicals in the breath of those suffering from it. The breath test uses a small array, less than an inch square, of 36 spots of chemically sensitive compounds that are designed to change colour when they come into contact with specific chemicals in the breath of patients with lung cancer.
THE rise of “internet pharmacies” has been blamed for an epidemic of prescription drug addiction in a report by the United Nations. The study warns that easy access to powerful sleeping pills, antidepressants and painkillers is leading to heart attacks, blindness and even deaths.
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The beans that battle obesity - Daily Mail 25th February 2007
THE rise of “internet pharmacies” has been blamed for an epidemic of prescription drug addiction in a report by the United Nations. The study warns that easy access to powerful sleeping pills, antidepressants and painkillers is leading to heart attacks, blindness and even deaths.
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The beans that battle obesity - Daily Mail 25th February 2007
Black soya beans could be a key weapon in the fight against obesity, scientists claim. A diet rich in the beans could also help lower cholesterol levels and aid in the prevention of diabetes.
Britons visiting Poland are being threatened with deportation if they are taken ill and need hospital treatment while in the country. The warning comes from the Polish Government despite arrangements which mean the NHS will treat Poles free of charge if they fall sick in Britain.
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64-stone woman becomes largest to get gastric bypass surgery - Daily Mail 23rd February 2007
Renee Williams, who weighs 64 stone, has become the largest female patient known to have undergone gastric bypass surgery. The procedure took place yesterday in Houston, Texas and lasted for five hours.
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South Pacific is 'fattest region' - BBC Health News 26th February 2007
A survey on obesity has shown that the South Pacific is the world's most overweight region. The tiny republic of Nauru is the fattest nation on earth. About 94% of its adult population is overweight.
Five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor in Libya accused of making false claims of torture have pleaded not guilty to charges of slander. The six were sentenced to death in a separate trial last year for infecting hundreds of Libyan children with HIV.
Earthquake simulators can greatly reduce post-traumatic stress symptoms in people who have survived the real thing, according to a study. UK and Turkish researchers developed a simulator, which users control themselves, and said it reduced stress symptoms more than counselling.
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Smoking alters brain 'like drugs' - BBC Health News 24th February 2007
Smoking cigarettes causes the same changes to the brain as using illicit drugs like cocaine, a study suggests. US researchers compared post-mortem brain tissue samples from smokers, former smokers and non-smokers.
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Cheshire and Merseyside News
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A TERMINALLY-ILL man who last year spent £70,000 of his own money to prolong his life has won his battle to get treatment free on the NHS. Liverpool businessman Keith Ditchfield travelled across Europe to find a treatment, and discovered a drug that slowed down the onslaught of his aggressive renal cancer.
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THE Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen hospitals have been given £275,000 to tackle a killer bug. Money from a £50m national fund will go towards beating Clostridium Difficile.
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A WOMAN diagnosed with crippling arthritis at 19 is to trek through south America to raise money for medical research. Anna Boekweit, 24, from Great Sutton, Ellesmere Port, will follow the Inca trail in Peru to raise £2,500 for the Arthritis Research Campaign.
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SICK people are being urged not to call doctors over their winter ailments. The Health Protection Agency said people with vomiting or diarrhoea should not visit hospital accident and emergency departments or doctors' surgeries.
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Hospital in brain tissue allegations - The Observer 25th February 2007
Allegations that patients at a Liverpool hospital had parts of their brains removed for medical research during neurosurgery without consenting to the procedure, can be revealed today. The University of Liverpool is accused of covering up the procedures, alleged to have resulted in at least 12 patients having brain parts removed. Its medical school, which was embroiled in the Alder Hey organ retention scandal, is facing claims that it tried to silence a senior hospital whistleblower who raised the alarm about alleged misconduct by a leading brain surgeon.
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Cumbria and Lancashire News
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CUMBRIAN MP Tim Farron says the government must realise that one size does not fit all when it comes to emergency services in the county. The MP for the Kendal area spoke out about the threat to services at the Westmorland General Hospital during a debate in the House of Commons. It has been proposed to focus more services – including urgent care for heart attack and stroke victims – in Lancaster, which would then become a centre of excellence.
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CARERS in Cumbria who look after their elderly and disabled friends and relatives were offered a safety net by the government this week. Chancellor Gordon Brown announced that Cumbria County Council will receive an extra £241,000 to give unpaid, round-the-clock carers a break in times of crisis.
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BURY Council's health scrutiny committee has stated why it decided to refer the controversial Making it Better decision to the Secretary of State for Health. In a formal letter to Patricia Hewitt, the Healthier Communities Scrutiny Commission claimed the move to axe in-patient maternity and children's services from Fairfield Hospital was not in the interests of the local health service in Bury, Rochdale and Rossendale and would have a "detrimental effect on the health and experience of these patients".
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Chorley Hospital has been given the go ahead to operate its own CATS treatment centre in a startling victory for campaigners opposed to it being run by a private firm. CATS - Clinical Assessment Treatment and Support centres - have been proposed by the government to cut waiting lists.
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A TERMINALLY ill man has won his appeal to have a life prolonging cancer drug free on the NHS. Keith Ditchfield, 53, said his was speechless' when the result of an appeal to be given the drug were faxed to him this morning.
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Drug plea on behalf of patient - Lancashire Telegraph 23rd February 2007
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Greater Manchester News
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A FAMILY doctor has called on parents to take more responsibly for the their children's sex education after new figures showed teenage pregnancy rates in Bolton remained high. The number of teenagers becoming pregnant is still among the highest in Greater Manchester, despite a slight fall in the latest annual figures.
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Patient records go electric - Altrincham Messenger 23rd February 2007
A PIONEERING hi-tech system, which ensures doctors have up to date information about patients, has been developed in Trafford. The system uses cutting-edge technology to collect and share information across the NHS.
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Patient records go electric - Altrincham Messenger 23rd February 2007
A PIONEERING hi-tech system, which ensures doctors have up to date information about patients, has been developed in Trafford. The system uses cutting-edge technology to collect and share information across the NHS.
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